Wendy Amexo
Data & Analytics Manager
Procter & Gamble​

SESSION OVERVIEW: In this inspiring keynote, I will share my personal journey of overcoming life’s challenges, from the profound loss of my mother to battles with mental health. These experiences, while difficult, became the foundation for my personal growth and professional success. Aimed at women in tech, this session will guide you in identifying and harnessing your unique strengths to create a significant impact both in your career and personal life.

Drawing from my own story, I will reveal how embracing vulnerability and fostering resilience can transform setbacks into stepping stones. The audience will learn practical strategies to recognize and seize opportunities, even in the face of adversity, and how to cultivate a mindset that not only endures but thrives.

Whether the audience is navigating their early careers or seeking to redefine their paths, this talk will provide the tools and inspiration needed to make help make a unique mark in the tech industry.

Julia Bellis
Global Psychological Safety Lead
Equal Experts

SESSION OVERVIEW: We live in an uncertain world. Studies show that humans find uncertainty more stressful than certain knowledge of a bad outcome. In this talk I explore why that is and helpful and unhelpful ways to deal with it.

I discuss how a very open ended discovery project forced me to confront uncertainty in Agile software delivery and how great the temptation was to pick a solution in order to have something to focus on delivering. I consider techniques that can help teams in this scenario ‘stay in the problem space’.

I explore unhelpful attempts to eliminate uncertainty from tech dev (waterfall, problem solving as fire fighting) and consider how children approach learning when they have no certain knowledge.

I conclude that we can negotiate a truce with uncertainty – we will never beat it but by being inspired by children, empirical science and progress we can learn to live and flourish with it.

Claire Reckless
Engineering Manager
MONY Group

SESSION OVERVIEW: Claire is an Engineering Manager at Moneysupermarket Group in Manchester. Working in Tech Support roles at the start of her career she moved into Testing and QA where she spent 15 years working across various sectors including Finance and Security, before moving into Engineering Management. She loves working with teams to help them implement effective ways of working and using her passion for learning and development to support engineers of all levels to grow their careers.

She has spoken at several conferences in the UK and Europe, including Reframe Women in Tech, DevCon, Testbash, Agile Testing days and Testcon Europe.

Rebecca Leche
Founder
TOU App

SESSION OVERVIEW: The critical assumption of free will in tech has a dire impact on anyone living with abuse, and our inaction makes us part of the problem. Using the illustrative journey of ‘Zoe,’ the talk delves into how abusers exploit technology, transforming tools of empowerment into mechanisms of control. We uncover how the various understandable priorities of stakeholders are preventing a solution at the expense of those affected. Yet, in the complex landscape of variables, we, the tech industry, have the power to positively impact people if only we consider all use cases for our tech. This session proposes actionable tech and policy enhancements, advocating a unified industry approach to safeguard digital spaces. It’s a timely look at ethical design and the real-world impact of ignoring abuse dynamics in technology development, focussing on designing safeguards that deter abusers and accommodate the needs of people living with abuse.

Nathalie Lowe
Director of Projects and Operations
DRCF

Kate Jones
CEO
DRCF

SESSION OVERVIEW: 

Q: What do a former diplomat and human rights lawyer and a project manager in advanced analytics have in common?

A: They are both leaders in the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF), leading a diverse, cross-organisational team that aims to ensure that the digital economy both protects and empowers people while unlocking innovation and growth.

Tech needs a diversity of perspectives and experiences. Kate’s background is as a diplomat and human rights lawyer, drawn to tech regulation while researching online political discourse and micro-targeting. She could see that regulatory cooperation was needed to resolve apparent conflicts between principles such as privacy and data interoperability. Nathalie has a project management background and was drawn to data on realising that it is more important than the tech itself.

We will offer personal, candid reflections on our own very different journeys, and demonstrate how a diversity of backgrounds and experience are not only applicable but also necessary to excel in technology, whatever your career stage. We bring our wide range of experiences from our career journeys – as well as from our personal and family lives – to our leadership roles in digital regulation and rely on them to tackle new and evolving challenges.

At the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, we lead a team who have had very different journeys but who work together cohesively, with a common sense of purpose. We will showcase how digital regulation makes a real difference to people’s lives, as well as how industry develops. We are proud of how we and our team play a part in achieving that goal.

Lauren Gibson
Senior Solutions Design Manager
Manchester City Football Club

SESSION OVERVIEW: 

What is the Glass Cliff?

Put simply the glass cliff is when Women are put in to positions of leadership during crises and uncertainty in which chances of failure are higher. Read that again, Women are put in to positions of leadership during crises in which the chances of failure are higher.

What happens when you get your first role in leadership but it’s not everything you thought it would be? In fact, it’s everything it shouldn’t be and more. You were explicitly clear in your interview this was your first role in leadership and you would need, and quite rightly expect support, but here you are and there’s 0 support. Your organisation seems to be switching priorities every week (every day in my experience), what you’re doing one day suddenly has no value the next day and you feel that you’re constantly jumping through hoops to prove yourself. Your mental health takes an absolute battering, you’re put on performance management and the company? Well they give themselves a pat on the back for hiring a Woman in the first place.

In this talk I will be explaining what the Glass Cliff is through my personal experience, the impact it has on Women and what Women can do to spot the signs of this and how they can support themselves and each other.